Teaming Up for Taxes program benefits Boys and Girls Club

Leaders of the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township are hoping to build on last year's success with their Teaming Up For Taxes program and raise more when local residents have their state and federal income taxes prepared by one of eight participating firms.

“Last year, we raised $5,000,” said Curt McReynolds, the club's president and chief executive officer. “This year, we hope to raise $7,500. All that money will be put back into the club.”

Under terms of the project, the firms donate to the club $1 for every income tax return they prepare until Tax Day, April 15.

“It was a fantastic project that garnered state recognition with Boys and Girls Clubs of America,” McReynolds said. “The money raised from this project assisted families during our all-day summer program, which served a record 375 club members last year.”

In 2012, five local accounting firms participated. Adding three more tax preparers gives the club president hope that it may even double this year. The participating companies are:

Ÿ Eric J. Fernandez and Associates, West Dundee;

Ÿ Tighe, Kress and Orr, Elgin;

Ÿ Business Matters, Nancy Guthrie, Elgin;

Ÿ Motl Accounting, East Dundee;

Ÿ Rizzo and Company, Palatine;

Ÿ James T. Borello and Co., East Dundee;

Ÿ Jeffrey W. Krol and Associates, Chicago;

Ÿ Martax Company, Inc., Carpentersville.

“This is a unique program that has done a lot of good for the club. It allows the community to become actively involved in supporting the club,” he said.

Forty-four percent of its $1.1 million budget is supported by the state and federal governments. The rest comes from grants and local donations.

The Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township has 1,200 members in its general program and more than 400 members in its sports and athletic program. Those members, whose ages range from preteen to teenage, live in Carpentersville, East and West Dundee and Sleepy Hollow.

As members, they can use the seven after-school sites Monday through Friday, attend club outings and participate in athletic events. The after-school sites are: Meadowdale, Golfview, Parkview, Perry and Lakewood elementary schools, and Carpentersville Middle School and Paul Knox Teen Center, all in Carpentersville.

“The clubs give them something constructive and safe to do after school,” McReynolds said.

“They can come and participate in sporting events or get help with homework.”

The Teaming Up For Taxes is open to other accounting firms in the Dundee Township area, he said. For more information about it, call McReynolds at (847) 551-4309 or visit http://www.bgcdt.org/.